Technique and Practice of Listening in Intensive Psychotherapy

298 Pages·1992·12.066 MB·English

by  Richard D. Chessick

THE TECHNIQUE
AND PRACTICE OF
LISTENING
IN INTENSIVE
PSYCHOTHERAPY
Also by Richard D. Chessick, M.D., Ph.D.
Agonie: Diary of a Twentieth Century Man
Intensive Psychotherapy of the Borderline Patient
Freud Teaches Psychotherapy
How Psychotherapy Heals
Why Psychotherapists Fail
The Technique and Practice of Intensive Psychotherapy
A Brief Introduction to the Genius of Niet::;sche
Psychology of the Self and the Treatment of Narcissism
Great Ideas in Psychotherapy
What Constitutes the Patient in Psychotherapy
A Dictionary for Psychotherapists
II
THE TECHNIQUE
AND PRACTICE OF
LISTENING
IN INTENSIVE
PSYCHOTHERAPY
D.
RICHARD CHESSICK, M.D., Ph.D.
A JASON ARONSON BOOK
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth. UK
The author gratefully acknowledges permission to reprint excerpts from the following:
Notes upon a case of obsessional neurosis, by S. Freud (1909), The Standard Edition of the Com
plete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, vol. 10, copyright ©1955 by The Hogarth Press.
Reprinted by permission of Sigmund Freud Copyrights Ltd., The Institute of Psycho
Analysis, and The Hogarth Press, London.
Catatonia, by K. L. Kahlbaum, copyright © 1973 by The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Reprinted by permission of The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD.
Models of the mind and data-gathering in clinical works, by E. A. Schwaber, Published in
Psychoanalytic Inquiry, vol. 7, no. 2, copyright ©1987 by M. Bornstein, J. Lichtenberg, and
D. Silver. Reprinted by permission of The Analytic Press, publisher, Hillsdale, NJ.
Returning to Freud: Clinical Psychoanalysis in the School of Lacan, by S. Schneiderman, Copyright
©1980 by Yale University. Reprinted by permission of Yale University Press, publisher, New
Haven, CT.
The two analyses of Mr. z., by H. Kohut, published in International Journal of Psycho
Analysis, vol. 60, copyright ©1979 by Heinz Kohut. Reprinted by permission of International
journal ofP sycho-Analysis, London.
Doing Psychotherapy, by M. F. Basch, copyright ©1980 by Basic Books, Inc. Reprinted by
permission of Basic Books, Inc., New York.
The case of Ellen West: an anthropological-clinical study, by L. Binswanger, published in
Existence: A New Dimension in Psychiatry and Psychology, edited by R. May, E. Angel, and H.
F. Ellenberger, copyright ©1958 by Basic Books, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Basic Books,
Inc., New York.
The Transference in Psychotherapy: Clinical Management, edited by E. Schwaber, copyright
©1985 by Evelyne Albrecht Schwaber, M.D. Reprinted by permission of International
Universities Press, New York, publisher; E. Schwaber, editor; J. Arlow, author.
Attention and interpretation, by W. Bion, published in Seven Servants, copyright ©1970 by
W. R. Bion, copyright ©1977 by Jason Aronson Inc. Reprinted by permission of Jason
Aronson Inc., Northvale, NJ.
Copyright ©1989 by Jason Aronson Inc.
First Softc:over Edition 1992
All rights reserved. No part ofthis publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission ofthe publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Chessick, Richard D., 1931-
The technique and practice of listening in intensive psychotherapy.
Includes bibliographies and index.
I. Psychotherapy. 1. Title. [DNLM: 1. Psychotherapy-methods.
WM 420 C524ta]
RC480.5.C468 1989 616.89'14 89-104
ISBN 13: 978-0-87668-300-2
9"'
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSIINISO Z39.48-1992.
This book is dedicated to
my grandchildren. . . .
May their world be a better one.

qv'Mayn.es ~~a ka'i ovx ~~a,
qvp.rpePop.evov {)LarpePop.evov,
ek
qvvaoov otaoov· 1ravrwv
*
b ka£ €~ ~vos 1ravra.
-Heraclitus (quoted by Aristotle,
De Mundo 5,396b20)
*Things taken together
are both whole and not whole,
adhering and flying apart,
singing in harmony,
incompatibly dissonant.
Out of all things
emerges d unity;
out of the one
comes all things.
(Translation by Dr. Chessick)

II
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction xv
ONE
BASIC PRINCIPLES 1
TWO
LISTENING STANCES 25